


Let her go

by Beryll (Rynthjan)



Series: Sir Yaden [18]
Category: Original Work
Genre: p2, phoenix empire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 17:35:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4844327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rynthjan/pseuds/Beryll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darren takes his job very seriously, even if it means bringing unpleasant facts to Yaden's attention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let her go

When Yaden had first moved his family to his island, he had been rather sure that they would never actually need the mansion for anything, apart from providing housing and utility rooms for their servants. It was a terrible building, looking inside and out like someone had tried to recreate a layered pink and yellow wedding cake in shape of a house. At least that was what Colin liked to call the monstrosity. On top of that, it also had more turrets, balconies and decorative staircases than any architect should ever have permitted.

But the longer they actually lived on the island, the more he came to appreciate that they had the huge, sprawling place at their disposal. It provided plenty of rooms for everyone to have their own space if they needed it. So far it had mostly been Darren who used one of the small apartments as his office with adjacent library where he kept all the correspondence and files he was handling for the family.

Since Jenny had come home with them, most of the extensive and very empty wine cellar had been converted into a state-of-the-art lab with all sorts of technical equipment and even another healing tank. All courtesy of the Emperor who wanted to ensure that she could work on her research for the benefit of the Phoenix Empire from the comfort of her home.

Yaden was currently sitting in a room on the second floor which had also been in use since they moved in, but which he had never really paid much attention to. When he had left Pandora to come to P2 there hadn't been many personal belongings he needed to transfer. There wasn't much room in the small apartment in the Imperial Palace and he hadn't really had much stuff to begin with. The only thing he'd left behind was his comic book collection.

When it became clear that he would never truly master the art of reading, Darren had started giving him comic books, so he would at least not entirely forget what he had managed to learn and have some colourful stories to take his mind off his tense life. It had been love at first sight on Yaden's part and his mother had happily provided funds to get Yaden as many comics as he liked. Since they were printed cheaply for commoners, he could afford heaps.

After they moved from the Palace to the island, Darren had written home to Pandora and a few weeks later Yaden's comics had arrived, all neatly packed in crates. Since he's read all of them already, Yaden hadn't bothered doing anything with them. The crates had been placed in a room of the mansion and Yaden just added stacks of more comics whenever he finished reading them. Darren maintained various subscriptions for him and he always got his batch of the latest issues delivered for mass consumption whenever he got the time.

The practice could have continued infinitely with maybe two or three more rooms filling up with stacks of comics over the decades if Jenny hadn't one day found Yaden in his hammock behind the cottages, reading his latest batch.

She had made a sound that could only be called a delighted squeak and pounced on him with barely contained excitement. It turned out that comic books were forbidden in the Holy Terran Empire since the God-Emperor deemed them subversive and detrimental to morality. That of course had been plenty of reason for a young and rebellious Jenny to try and get her hands on as much such illegal contraband as she possibly could. She'd hid comics in a secret compartment under the floor in her parents' cellar and loved them with all her heart.

Now she found herself with a wide selection of formats, subjects and characters, all sitting right next to her husband's hammock.

She'd been even more delighted when she found out about Yaden's veritable hoard in the mansion. So Yaden had promised to actually open all those crates and sort his old and new comics into the empty shelves of the room so she could slowly consume all of them in order.

The project had been postponed repeatedly, due to Phoenix Knight missions that took precedence and a general aversion to the task on Yaden's part. But he'd been home for several days now with nothing important to do and this morning Jenny had looked at him with pleading eyes. So here he was, sorting books, of all things.

At least he was making good progress and the older issues brought back many fond memories of his time on Pandora. Most of them bore tell-tale food stains. Colin might mockingly complain that Yaden was constantly eating nowadays, but it was nothing compared to back then, when his body had finally decided to come out of emergency maintenance mode and do a little growing. He'd always been munching on something and Darren had done a stellar job and always finding new and interesting things to eat.

"Hey, Yaden," Darren's familiar, deep voice came from the room's entrance, like he had been conjured up by Yaden's thoughts of him. He was leaning in the door frame with a fond smile on his face. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," Yaden gestured for him to come inside. While he was sitting on the floor, sorting the comics into stacks around himself, Darren took a seat on one of the unopened crates. "What's up?"

Most of the time when Darren appeared with such an opening he just got to the business at hand which usually was something Yaden needed to sign or some sort of official correspondence he needed to answer himself. This time, however, he remained silent and thoughtfully stroked the little beard he had started growing on his chin lately. That got him Yaden's full attention after a while. He set down the books he had been going through and looked at Darren, waiting patiently.

"We need to talk about Myriam," Darren finally opened.

Yaden frowned. "Has she gotten in trouble with someone at the Palace again? I don't care who she burned this time, but I'm sure she had good reason..."

"No, no," Darren raised his hands. "There have been no complaints since she enlisted with the science division. She is doing great. What I mean is... have you started thinking about her annum nobilis?"

The question made Yaden slump forward. He had somehow hoped that he could avoid the matter altogether by ignoring it long enough. Colin was at most vaguely aware of the tradition and Jenny had no idea, yet. A big part of him simply didn't want Myriam to go. He had missed so much of his daughter's life already. It was selfish of him, but he couldn't help it. But of course Darren had noticed. He'd deeply frowned upon the fact that Yaden's mother hadn't let him go. He'd even dared to argue with her about it, something no one did lightly with the Duchess of Pandora.

"Yaden, I know you don't want to let her go," Darren now said gently. "But you know it's the right thing to do. You know it will do her a world of good to get out there, among strangers, seeing things from a different view, learning how well you have prepared her to face the world on her own. How is she ever to understand what a wonderful family she truly has, if you don't allow her to see the other side?"

"But I will miss her so much," Yaden muttered miserably.

Darren sighed and left his place on the crate to sit next to Yaden and put an arm around his shoulders. "I know. I will miss her, too. We all will. But we can't keep this opportunity from her because it inconveniences us."

"I know," Yaden sighed, pushed his fingers through his hair and then bravely smiled at Darren. "I know, but I don't have to like it."

That made Darren chuckle. "Come on now. It's not like you will be all alone while she is gone. You have a lovely husband, an equally lovely wife, the twins, Ivan. And soon you will also have a new baby to take care of."

"And you," Yaden added with a smile.

"And me," Darren confirmed. "Now, do I have to talk to Myriam or can I trust that you will?"

He still was perfect with that stern parent tone, Yaden thought happily. "I will," he agreed obediently. "We'll find somewhere absolutely awesome for her to spend her annum nobilis. And when she comes back home, I get to keep her forever."

"Until she gets a boyfriend, gets married and moves out," Darren corrected calmly.

"Hey, boyfriends have accidents!" Yaden announced cheerfully. "It happens all the time."

Darren gave an exaggerated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "One step at a time," he muttered under his breath and then yelped when Yaden punched him playfully.

He was the best thing that had happened to Yaden in his youth. There was no way of telling what would have become of him without Darren, but he would certainly not be as happy as he was now. "Thank you," Yaden said, meaning everything Darren had done for him.

"Always, my boy," Darren replied with a warm smile.


End file.
